Thornhill, January 18, 1833.
* * * The delight of a warm bed the Canadian can fully appreciate. The
other morning the thermometer stood 18° below zero, or 50° below freezing
point, and during last night I conceive it must have been much lower: it
is now near the middle of the day, and the glass is only 1° above zero,
and yet, difficult as you may feel it to credit me, it seems to me a mere
nothing. I can hardly imagine that I am in the midst of a Canadian
winter, that horrible and terrible of previous anticipation: the fact is,
that the severe weather only lasts for two or three days at a time, which
is far different from a continuous season of four or five months, and
though sharp and searching in itself, yet fire, clothing, and due
attention, bring all to a common English temperature; and then the air is
so cheering and bracing that you smile cheerily, rather than feel
oppressively. But, in reality, I can hardly proceed in my description,
not for want of words but of ink; for it not only freezes in the ink
glass while on the table, but after I place it on the hearth and thaw it,
the pen-full freezes while I am writing; so that I am obliged to stop
ever and anon to thaw it in the pen, and yet with this acme of
congelating miseries, I smile and laugh and go battling on; but all this
sounds worse than it really is, so do not be alarmed.
ON EMIGRATION.
TO MRS. MORTIMER.
I FEEL somewhat puzzled as to what I ought to say with regard to
emigration. As to agriculture, employment can easily be procured in the
upper province, and the wages are good; but the state of destitution in
which some of the families arrive is very distressing, and keeps them
back for a considerable time. I cannot recommend any family to come out
unless they have £9 a head for each individual. It happened to one young
man who had paid £1. 15s. for his passage to Quebec, and yet with one and
another charge he had only a few shillings left out of £12. At Kingston
I heard of a family of emigrants whose baggage was sold by auction to
enable them to find the money to proceed to the agricultural districts.
If emigrants can proceed with their baggage, and a few shillings in their
pockets, they soon feel thankful for their altered circumstances. As to
the two men and their families, I must leave it to your decision, and to
influence them as you judge best. If they come, it should be as early as
possible: leave England in February and get to Quebec in March.